Preferably, the aforementioned mounting device is used for mounting a wheel on a racing bicycle, but the use of this device in any other type of bicycle is foreseen as well.
As known, the front and rear wheels of a bicycle are mounted on the frame of the bicycle at a respective fork (front and/or rear) of the frame.
The mounting of the wheel on the frame of the bicycle takes place by coupling the hub of the wheel with the respective fork.
The hub typically comprises a hub body extending along a longitudinal axis and provided with attachment flanges for attaching the spokes of the wheel and the brake disc, if any. The hub body has an axial through cavity in which a pin is housed. The hub body is rotatable with respect to the pin about the aforementioned longitudinal axis.
The pin has opposite axial end portions, at each of which a respective arm of the fork is intended to be stably coupled.
In some conventional embodiments, the pin comprises, at one of the opposite axial end portions thereof, an outer threading configured to be coupled with an inner threading made directly in the arm of the fork. Alternatively, the outer threading of the pin can be coupled with an inner threading made on a cap configured to go into axial abutment against an outer wall of the arm of the fork.
The pin further comprises, at the opposite axial end portion, a locking lever configured to allow the aforementioned outer threading to be screwed into the arm of the fork (or into the cap) and the subsequent locking of the wheel with respect to the frame of the bicycle.
In this respect, the locking lever rotates as a unit with the pin about the aforementioned longitudinal axis and is pivoted to the pin through a cam mechanism at a pivoting axis. The locking lever is further in abutment against an abutment surface provided in the pin and configured to go into abutment with the other arm of the fork.
The screwing of the pin in the inner threading of the arm of the fork (or of the cap) takes place by rotating the locking lever about the aforementioned longitudinal axis. Such screwing causes the pin to be locked with respect to the arm of the fork. The subsequent rotation of the locking lever about the pivoting axis, thanks to the cam mechanism, causes the forced axial abutment of the aforementioned abutment surface against the other arm of the fork and, consequently, the locking of the wheel on the fork.
Pins of the type discussed above are described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 7,562,943 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,267,484.
The Applicant observed that in the pins described above the locking lever projects axially with respect to the arm of the fork by a non-negligible axial length (typically by many centimeters). This is not desired by some cyclists and/or users, particularly in the field of racing bicycles.
The technical problem at the basis of the present invention is therefore to provide cyclists and/or users with a device for mounting the wheel on the bicycle frame that, in addition to allow a quick and easy mounting of wheels on bicycle frames, overcomes the aforementioned drawback.
The Applicant believes that the axial projection discussed above is at least partially caused by the presence of the cam mechanism and has therefore thought to a solution wherein no cam mechanism is used.